D.A.R.E. Essay

Over the past few weeks, my class has had D.A.R.E. in our Social Studies class. D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. We have to write about what we learned, what we thought of the program and how we learned to say “NO!” This is for two language arts grades and to graduate D.A.R.E.

I love the D.A.R.E. program. It teaches me how to avoid drugs and violence, about the drugs, and we also have fun at the same time. For instance, it was fun to watch our classmates with the D.U.I goggles on, but we also learned what it was like when you’re drunk.

One of the many things I have learned is that smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer. This doesn’t really surprise me because I knew that the smoke affects your lungs really badly. I have seen on TV what your lungs look like when you smoke. They look really bad, all purple, wrinkly, and small. I hope when I get older I don’t smoke and have cancer.

The most interesting thing that I learned that really stuck out in my mind is that there were over 200 KNOWN poisons in tobacco. That pretty much guarantees the fact that I will not smoke tobacco. I mean, just think about it, would you want to smoke something that has OVER 200 KNOWN poisons in it?! Smoking also turns your teeth yellow, gives you bad breath, and causes shortness of breath when you play sports. I don’t want yellow teeth because right now I’m doing everything I can do to make sure I have straight, white teeth with my braces. I also don’t want to smoke because I am very active in sports and there’s no way I want to get shortness of breath and dizziness.

As I was saying, we had fun in D.A.R.E. We had fun having extra recess if less than two people did not wear their D.A.R.E. shirt. This didn’t happen very much for my class, but it was still fun when we did have it. When we did the DUI goggles, it was sort of like a challenge for boys against girls. We had to walk in a straight line with the goggles on, then turn around and catch a tennis ball with them still on. We were looking for how many boys caught it and how many girls caught it. The boys and girls ended up tieing.

I have learned MANY things from this program, and I think it is a great way to help reduce the amount of teenagers that use drugs and help them avoid violence.

Pledge: I promise to make wise decisions about alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and violence. I will say “NO!” when someone asks me to do drugs.

Books I Have Read This Year

My Brother Made Me Do It
Eggs
Double Identity
Turnabout
My Teacher is an Alien
Dexter the Tough
Ruby Electric
Stolen Children
Tender
Rash
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning Of Life
Found
Sent
Waiting For Normal
How Do You Spell G-e-e-k??
The Kingdom Keepers
Just Ella
Escape From Memory
Kingdom Keepers Disney @ dawn
Miracle on 49th Street
The Big Field
Also Known as Harper
Dairy Queen
Do the Math: Secrets, Lies and Algebra
Last Shot
Pish Posh
S-P-E-L-L-D-O-W-N
Peeled
Refugees
Hey Dad, Get A Life!
Chain Letter
Prom Crashers
Juvie Three
Shopaholic
Define "Normal"
Travel Team
On the Run: Chasing the Falconers; Book #1
On the Run: Fugitive Factors; Book #2
On the Run: Now You See Them, Now You Don't; Book #3
On the Run: The Stowaway Solution; Book #4
On the Run: Public Enemies; Book #5
On the Run: Hunting the Hunter; Book #6
Chasing Yesterday: Awakening; Book 1
Chasing Yesterday: Betrayal; Book 2
Chasing Yesterday: Truth; Book 3
Crashed
Slob
The Giver
Gathering Blue
Money Hungry
Takeoffs and Landings
Schooled
Cover-Up
Missing Girls
The Tail of Emily Windsnap
Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep
Hidden Roots
Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist